xenia scrubber instead of algae scrubber?

[Jeremy Blaze]

I use various types of algae, as well as carbon and phosban. I also feel my clams help with it as well. I have a few acros and a lot of zoas, heres some pics of it,

 

[dolt]

very nice - that sqamie looks pretty big - I am going to set it up tomorrow - I spent all day cleaning pumps, skimmer etc so did not get around to it today

 

[Reefflections]

For the ones that can't keep Zenia.Are you using any Potassium Iodide 1% in your system,or even PFI ? They love the stuff.Also will help all your other corals,including coloring up your SPS's even more?What they really thrive on is DT's which it seems a lot of folks don't use as much anymore.I had to rip ever piece of Zenia out,it grew like wild fire.And spread everywhere.
Also Z-nut talk to you on Sunday.

 

[bowfront]

Funny stuff this Xenia. I've spent several years trying to eradicate it after switching to a predominate SPS tank.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Well, I've heard that they like iodide, but it can be toxic in small doses as weel, and never really proven that they actually use it, to my knowledge. As for DT's, it has been shown that Xenia does not feed on any matter, instead relys on photosythisis, I believe this is discussed in Bornemans book.

 

[Reefflections]

As for Iodide,have always used it.It's never been a problem in all the years of reefkeeping,that I've been in.Even Znut here has also a lot of years of reefkeeping,and pretty sure she uses this stiff also.ESV backs the use of their 1% PI.And even the Zeo users today are using,even a higher dose of PFI.I have never lost a coral to the use of Iodide.If anything it makes your blue acro,color up even more.I'm a form believer of this additive,only in small amounts.And have scene nothing but good results from it.
As for DT's it just when I had Zenia,it went crazy.That was the only additive other than ESV 1% PI was being added.Not really sure if the DT had a direct impact.But something made this Zenia explode in my system.Maybe it was the high Phos.that's in DT that made the Zenia take off?

 

[G-money]

It's very likely that DT's also increases the amount of DOM/nutrients in the tank. Since Xenia and most corals actively uptake nutrients across their tissue, it would make sense that adding a nutrient rich concoction like DTs would make more dissolved nutrients available to them. So even if they don't consume DT's directly, I'd bet there are anough residual nutrients in the stuff to be available to corals...

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

It is Xenia, not Zenia.

 

[Reefflections]

Just had a long weekend !:beer:

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

I hear ya!

 

[dolt]

bowfront - I totally agree - I now would never want the stuff in my display tank as it is all but impossible to eradicate - I am only going to use it in my sump as a form of nutrient export
- I am going to get a hanna phosphate calorimeter and I wish I had it now as I would love to see what effect this has on my phosphates with all other things being equal - unfortunately I will not get one for a few weeks or so and I am putting the xenia in today - oh well, so much for science!

 

[acroconut]

I'm not sure about xenia needing a high nutrient system to thrive. I have red sea PomPom in two of my tanks and the growth rate is high and difficult to manage. One tank is my 75G SPS tank and the other is my 7G minibow. In the case of the mini bow the lighting is only PC's, the tank has no fish, I feed a few pellets twice a week to my hairy black brittle star and 2 hermit crabs, and the xenia are growing on everything. On the other hand I have a 15G aiptasia grow out tank ( for the Berghia I breed) which is a nutrient sink due to target feeding aips atleast twice a day. I have placed the same species of xenia in there with ample flow and lighting. Within two weeks they shrink up and begin to die off, even though they have managed to plate to the glass and aren't in contact with any of the aiptasia. So go figure.

 

[ReefTeacher]

I have had very bad experiences with xenia crashes......it stinks!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

ReefTeacher - fill me in, I"m worried about the Xenia dying off in my tank and crashing it. How do they 'crash' and what causes it?

 

[ReefTeacher]

It was my first reef tank in the late 90's. A friend had lots of xenia and gave me some as my first coral. It spread like wild fire.....then all of a sudden crashed, making the tank cloudy. I don't know exactly what causes it but I suspect they live off of dissolved nutrients and and some point thier growth outpaces the supply. I do not know if the die off is associated with some cells being released to find a more hospitible environment. But I can tell you it is sudden and smelly! The tank was never quite the same after the crash.

 

[jer77]

I would very much like to see this xenia report, but I think its a stretch to say xenia can compete with caulerpa in nitrate control. Xenia grows fast, but not that fast. I really doubt the statement concerning lowering DOC's, but I'd still consider a study of it. I know its pulsing movements don't facilitate nutrient uptake, at least anything worth talking about.

 

[Swolek]

some sort of study showed that Xenia sp. consumed substantially more nitrate than Caulerpa and Chaetomorpha algae per unit mass. The same applied to certain DOCs as well.

What was the name of the study? Do you still have it saved somewhere?

My research project this semester is similar and I didn't come across an article like that. It sounds like it would be extremely useful.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I was told originally by the person who sold me the first couple heads of Xenia that i have that they have a finite lifespan, around 2 years or so. But if you frag them, what re-grows off the base starts that over. Also if you slice in half, same thing. But I've sold them to people who put them in tanks running GFO/Carbon and they melted overnight. So they definitely need some kind of nutrient availability.

 

[ganjero]

DOnt you worry that a lttle piece gets in to the DT and spreads all over the place?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

They are in my DT right now - I don't use them as the thread title suggests. I am more curious about the 'crashing' issue, because I do run an algae scrubber and I overfeed the tank to keep enough nutrients in the system to avoid the crash. But I'm thinking that I should get rid of them to be safe.